A (very brief) history:
Mass MOCA consists of 26 buildings that sit on 16 acres of land in North Adams,
MA. The site once functioned as an industrial plant comprised of various small
textile industries from shoe manufacturers to wagon-makers. By the mid 1800s a
cloth printing company had taken over the majority of the buildings until the
great depression when it became home to
Sprague Electric Company. When Sprague finally closed in 1985, a collective
effort from the town of North Adams and Williams College Museum of Art helped
to bring the museum to life. Mass MOCA opened to the public in 1999.

The first time I visited
Mass MOCA I was 14. My rudimentary perception and understanding of art was
about to change significantly in that one visit. An exhibit that has stayed
with me since that day was in a large empty two story gallery where sheets of
white paper sporadically and delicately fell from the ceiling. It was magical,
like being inside of a snow globe and far from what I considered at the time to
be art. There, ever after, Mass MOCA would always dazzle me.

Visitors come to see the
expansive and ever-changing collection of contemporary art and sculpture
nestled in this industrial maze as well as the the many music, dance and
theater performances hosted at Mass MOCA every year. If I haven’t convinced you
to visit, did you know Mass MOCA grows upside down maple trees, which they do
in fact tap to make upside down maple syrup? Did I also happen to mention there
is an on-site micro brewery? If you need any more reasons to visit Mass MOCA or
the Berkshires...